AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION (ACF)

ACF is Australia’s national environmental organization. A small group of people formed the ACF in 1965 when oil drilling and mining first threatened the Great Barrier Reef. Since then, the ACF community has grown to over half a million people who speak out for the places they love in Australia – like the reef, the Kimberley, the Daintree, Kakadu, and Fraser Island. Their community includes the scientists who realized the consequences of limestone mining on the reef; the poets who spoke out for the forests; the builders who refused to destroy urban green spaces; the farmers who love the land; the traditional owners who protect the country from uranium mining and toxic pollution; and the volunteers who make banners, write letters, and run events.

For over fifty years, ACF and the community have scored some incredible wins. They advocated against projects that pollute, like the Jabiluka uranium lease. They won World Heritage listing for the Reef and Kakadu. They protected places like the Franklin River, Antarctica, and the Murray-Darling. They stood with traditional owners and farmers to pioneer Landcare. They won billions of dollars for clean energy and led — what was at the time — the world’s biggest climate march that helped win a global climate agreement.  They advocated against pollution and destruction and for the living world. To show politicians that people really do care, they matched the power of big polluting companies and stood with the Indigenous people who have cared for the life of the planet for tens of thousands of years. They acknowledged the traditional owners of their country and their continuing connection to land, waters, and community, paying respect to elders, both past and present.
www.acf.org.au

BAY ECOTARIUM

Bay Ecotarium is the largest non-profit watershed conservation organization in San Francisco with seven institutions (Aquarium of the Bay, The Bay Institute, Sea Lion Center, Bay Model Alliance, Bay Academy, Studio Aqua, and Eco Expeditions), with a united mission to enable Climate Resilience and Ocean Conservation globally, inspiring actionable change locally protecting and preserving the Bay Area ecosystems from Sierra to the Sea. For 40 years, the Bay Institute has litigated and strengthened environmental policy in California while the Smithsonian Affiliated Aquarium has promoted Ocean Conservation initiatives for over 25 years, including Bay Conservation, Watershed Health, Fish and Wildlife Protection, Climate Change Adaptation, Sustainability, and Habitat Restoration. The Bay Ecotarium also operates the popular Sea Lion Center. Overlooking K-Dock in the marina, adjacent to PIER 39, the Sea Lion Center naturalists offer programs to enhance awareness toward the colony of wild California sea lions, now permanently established in this unusual, urban location. The Aquarium and the Sea Lion Center provide free educational programming to 70,000 children each year and welcome 500,000 visitors from around the world.
bayecotarium.org

BYE BYE PLASTIC

When Melati was only twelve years old, she and her younger sister, Isabel, created Bye, Bye Plastic Bags (BBPB). They wanted to tackle the pressing issue of pollution which was affecting Bali, Indonesia. Four years later, BBPB became an international movement for the elimination of plastic bags and for restoring harmony between the citizens and their environment. Believing that knowledge is the source of change, Melati and Isabel created a 25-page booklet on waste management, recycling, and youth action. They are working with the government to implement their curriculum throughout all Indonesian schools. In 2014, BBPB signed a MOU (Memorandum Of Understanding) with Governor Bp. Mangku Pastika to make Bali completely plastic bag-free by 2018. BBPB’s One Island One Voice campaign encourages plastic bag-free businesses and has even inspired Bali’s airport to officially ban plastic bags.
www.byebyeplasticbags.org

CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT; CLIMATE JUSTICE, Al Gore, Mary Robinson

In 2006, Al Gore founded The Climate Reality Project (formerly the Alliance for Climate Protection), a non-profit organization devoted to solving the climate crisis, to move the conversation about climate change and all climate-related problems forward, turn awareness into action all across the Earth, and to solve the greatest challenges that the planet is facing. It includes activists, cultural leaders, organizers, scientists, and storytellers who are committed to building a sustainable future together. It strives to make everyone aware of the need for urgent action, in politics, in business, in every walk of life, and everywhere. It calls for immediate action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to speed up a just transition to clean energy worldwide, to make world leaders commit to stopping global warming through the Paris Agreement, to end pollution’s poisoning frontline communities, and racist policies that are deepening inequality planet-wide.

Through its trainings, campaigns, and partnerships, it provides the resources needed to take on and win climate and justice battles with local, national, and global consequences.  It has over 31,000 climate reality leader activists who are mobilizing communities in 170 countries; branches in ten critical nations and regions around the world; and 140 activist chapters (and growing) that are pushing for practical, clean energy policies across the US.  It is committed to building a more just and equitable world, one where all voices are heard and respected regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or physical ability. Former US Vice President Al Gore is also co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm that is focused on a new approach to sustainable investing. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Current TV, an independently owned cable and satellite television network for young people based on viewer-created content and citizen journalism. A member of the Board of Directors of Apple Computer, Inc., and a Senior Advisor to Google, Inc., Gore is also a visiting professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
www.algore.com
www.climaterealityproject.org
www.climaterealityactionfund.org
www.mrfcj.org

CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL

Since 1987, Conservation International has been fighting to protect nature for people and  to highlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity. Combining fieldwork with innovations in science, policy, and finance, they have helped protect more than six million square kilometers (2.3 million square miles) of land and sea across more than seventy countries. With offices in more than two dozen countries and a worldwide network of thousands of partners, it empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, global biodiversity, and the well-being of humanity. They imagine a healthy, prosperous world in which societies are forever committed to caring for and valuing nature for the long-term benefit of people and of all life on Earth.

They protect forests that absorb and store climate-warming carbon by working with businesses and governments to account for their impacts on forests, and they enable private investment in forest protection initiatives. They also help local and Indigenous communities protect forests on their lands. Innovating new ways to sustain marine fisheries, they seek to double the world’s ocean area under protection. Promoting self-sustaining, conservation-based economies in areas of the most importance for people and nature, they create new conservation-funding models and production models for commodities, balancing demand with the protection of essential natural resources. They focus on innovation in science and finance, partnering with indigenous communities, working with governments, and engaging with corporations.
www.conservation.org

ECOALF FOUNDATION

The ECOALF FOUNDATION is a non-profit organization whose main objective is to promote the selective recovery of waste to recycle and avoid its harmful effects on the environment by developing and applying new scientific and technological knowledge. The History of the ECOALF Foundation is the story of Upcycling the Oceans, a global adventure born in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015. The aim is to clean the oceans of marine waste, with the help of the fishing industry, and to give a second life to plastic waste through recycling. While collaborating with local partners to promote Upcycling the Oceans in Spain, Greece, Italy, and Thailand, it is also working on its implementation in other parts of the world. Other projects it oversees are in the fields of waste management, environmental awareness, and research and development with institutions with which it shares common values and objectives.
www.ecoalf.com

FRIDAYS FOR FUTURE… (FFF)

FFF is a global climate strike movement that started in August 2018 when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate. In the beginning, she was alone, but she was soon joined by others. On September 8, Greta and her fellow school strikers decided to continue their strike until the Swedish policies provided a safe pathway well under the 2° C criterion, in line with the Paris agreement. They created the hashtag #FridaysForFuture. They encouraged other young people all over the world to join them.  This marked the beginning of the global school strike for climate. FFF’s goal is to put moral pressure on policymakers, to make them listen to the scientists, and then, take forceful action to limit global warming.

Greta Thunberg has also established a foundation with her family, The Greta Thunberg and Beata Ernman Foundation. The foundation’s aim will be to promote ecological, climatic, and social sustainability, as well as mental health. It also allows for the donation of money with full transparency.
www.fridaysforfuture.org

GLOBAL GREEN

Global Green is helping people, places, and the planet through different programs. It envisions a planet where there is no conflict between the economic needs and the systems of life. It partners with other leading international organizations to make a positive impact on the environment, people’s lives, and business growth for global initiatives, providing information and awareness on climate parks, for school programs that help educate students about the importance of environmental sustainability and empower them to become “Eco-warriors” within their community.
www.globalgreen.org

GREENPEACE

In 1971, Greenpeace’s founders set sail to an island in the Arctic with the mission of stopping a nuclear bomb. It was a journey that would spark a movement and make history. Greenpeace wants to give people power and inspiration to change the world, to dream together, to plan together, and to act together. Its goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity: protect biodiversity in all its forms; prevent pollution and abuse of the earth’s ocean, land, air, and fresh water; end all nuclear threats; promote peace, and global disarmament and non-violence. Its core values are personal responsibility, non-violence, and independence, as it does not accept money from governments, corporations, or political parties. Individual contributions, together with grants from foundations, are the only sources of its funding. It actively works to ensure transparency and public accountability in its campaigning, fundraising, and financial management practices.  Greenpeace is a Member of Accountable Now, a platform of international, civil society organizations. It wants to build a movement of people with the courage and conviction to help build a better world.
www.greenpeace.org

JUST WATER

Jaden Smith launched the idea for Just Water after seeing plastic trash floating around him while surfing when he was only eleven years old. Since its inception, the company has kept nearly 4.4 million pounds of carbon from being released into the environment by reimagining the water bottle. Just Water connected with the city of Glens Falls and with Kirby Van Vleet, an experienced hydrogeologist who has monitored the city’s watershed for thirty years. Kirby oversees the water extraction process and monitors the health of the Glens Falls watershed. Just Water’s carton is 100% recyclable, efficient to ship, and can be reused on-the-go. The plastic in the shoulder and cap of Just Water’s container is made mostly from sugarcane. A thin layer of aluminum foil is used to protect the water from potential contamination. Both the aluminum and paper are shielded by a layer of BPA-free plastic film to protect the integrity of the bottle. Their commitment to the community goes even deeper than just water. In Glens Falls, they have repurposed a building, created new revenue streams, and generated job flow.
justwater.com

LEONARDO DI CAPRIO FOUNDATION (LDF)

In 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio established his foundation with the mission of protecting the world’s last wild places. LDF implements solutions that help restore balance to threatened ecosystems, ensuring the long-term health and well-being of all Earth’s inhabitants. From the beginning, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) has worked on some of the most pressing environmental issues of our day. Through grant-making, public campaigns, and media initiatives, LDF brings attention and needed funding to six program areas: Wild Lands Conservation, Oceans Conservation, Climate Change, Indigenous Rights, Transforming California, and Innovative Solutions. Several successful fundraising events have enabled LDF to scale up its grant-making strategy, driving support for vitally important projects around the globe.

Leonardo’s website and social media platforms are also dedicated to inspiring the public to take action on key environmental issues. Having grown from just 500,000 followers, in 2007, to over fifty million now, Leonardo’s fans have engaged in an array of issues protecting key species — sharks in California, tigers in Asia, elephants in Africa — and calling upon world leaders to address the global climate crisis. In acknowledgment of LDF’s impactful work over the last two decades, Leonardo was designated as the United Nations Messenger of Peace for Climate Change and received the 2014 Clinton Global Citizen Award. In addition to founding LDF, Leonardo also serves on the board of several environmental organizations: World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, Oceans 5, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. In 2019, LDF fully partnered and merged with the new Earth Alliance, a new organization to help address the urgent threats to the planet’s life support systems. It was born out of the shared passion of its founding co-chairs: Leonardo, businesswoman and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, and investor and philanthropist Brian Sheth. It is a vehicle for LDF and its partners to increase this level of impact, as science shows that time is running out before the worst effects of the changing climate become irreversible.
www.leonardodicaprio.org
ealliance.org

MAKE IT RIGHT FOUNDATION (MIR)

In 2007, Graft Architects started the “Make It Right Foundation” (MIR) together with Brad Pitt, Bill McDonough, and the Cherokee Foundation, to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans, Louisiana. To raise funds and create awareness, the foundation designed the Pink Project to officially launch the rebuilding efforts and prepare the first round of financing after Brad Pitt’s initial donation. Using an approach that blends set design and architecture, 150 pink scaffolding structures were erected on the site that was still vacant two years after the floods. These structures served as placeholders for future buildings and building parts and acted as compelling tools to raise awareness. Over time, as monetary donations came in, the pink placeholders were reassembled to restore the urban pattern of the community before the disaster.
graftlab.com

MUSK FOUNDATION

The Musk Foundation gives grants in support of renewable energy research and advocacy, human space exploration research and advocacy, pediatric research, science and engineering education, and the development of safe artificial intelligence to benefit humanity.
www.muskfoundation.org

NASA – SPACE FOUNDATION

Since its inception in 1958, NASA has accomplished many great scientific and technological feats in air and space. NASA technology also has been adapted for many non-aerospace uses by the private sector. The agency remains a leading force in scientific research and in stimulating public interest in aerospace exploration, as well as in science and technology in general.
www.spacefoundation.org

OBAMA FOUNDATION

The Obama Foundation’s mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. This mission begins on the South Side of Chicago, where the Obama Presidential Center is being built. The Obama Foundation Community Leadership Corps brings together rising leaders to identify and address community issues and to ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. My Brother’s Keeper Alliance focuses on mobilizing mentors, reducing youth violence, and improving life outcomes for boys and young men of color.

The Obama Foundation Fellowship supports outstanding civic innovators from around the world to amplify the impact of their work and to inspire a wave of civic innovation. The Obama Foundation Scholars Program gives rising young leaders around the world the opportunity to take their work to the next level through a curriculum that brings together academic, skills-based, and hands-on learning. The Girls Opportunity Alliance continues the work of First Lady Michelle Obama to empower adolescent girls around the world through education. The Obama Foundation aims, first of all, to create new leaders for a better world, and, each year, it brings together leaders and luminaries from around the world to exchange ideas and explore creative solutions to common problems.
www.obama.org

RAINFOREST FUND

Co-founded by Sting, Trudie Styler, and Dr. Franca Sciuto in 1989, the organizations jointly known as Rainforest Foundation began with a promise made by Sting to the Indigenous leader Raoni, of the Kayapó tribe, to help him and his people obtain legal rights to their traditional land. With these roots, Rainforest Foundation originally focused on the Amazon region of Brazil. This commitment to Chief Raoni was fulfilled in 1992, thanks to the generous contributions and support of people from all over the world. The physical demarcation of the Kayapó tribe’s land was undertaken by the Indigenous people themselves through the most modern technology. In fulfilling this promise, the Rainforest Foundation became the Rainforest Fund and broadened involvement in all of the world’s rainforests, supporting Indigenous Peoples and traditional populations of the rainforest in its efforts to conserve their lands and defend their rights. Since the foundation’s beginning, programs have been developed throughout Brazil in multi-ethnic Indigenous territories. Beyond Brazil, it works with many countries, such as Belize, Kenya, Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bolivia, Myanmar, Ecuador, Mexico, Guyana, Honduras, Indonesia, Panama, the Philippines, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and Peru.
www.rainforestfund.org

ROAR AFRICA

Roar Africa was founded by Deborah Calmeyer, who was brought up on a farm in Zimbabwe. Her childhood was spent riding horses, running barefoot on African beaches, and playing with Carmel, a lioness adopted by Deborah’s father, who taught her to love nature and wildlife. Later, when the political situation shifted, she moved to South Africa.  She now lives in Cape Town and New York. Roar Africa is committed to ensure that all its travels support initiatives that make positive social, economic, and environmental impacts. It only works with people and properties who share its vision of sustainable travel and whose ethics echo its own. The power of its partnerships with local communities and on-the-ground organizations lies in the combined creative output — one that seeks to deliver health, housing, employment, and the skills requisite for conservation and gender empowerment. As such, Roar Africa imbues every curated journey it designs with a sense of humanity — an intangible, undefinable quality, but one with the power to sustain all people.
www.roarafrica.com

ROBERT REDFORD CENTER

Co-founded in 2005 by Robert Redford and his son James Redford, The Redford Center uses impact-driven film and media to galvanize the movement toward environmental justice, protection, and repair. It produces, funds, and supports a diverse portfolio of projects, which aim to balance the pervasive, alarmist environmental narrative with stories of progress, hope, and inspiration. By leveraging the power of storytelling, it seeks to engage and activate many people, a diverse and representative population of individuals, to join the environmental movement. Its cross-cutting portfolio of films is designed to have real-world impact and propel the system change that is so urgently needed. Its growing network of 400+ environmentally-engaged artists also represents Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and LBGTQ+ communities who are among the historically underrepresented groups that suffer disproportionately from environmental impacts. They are often among those leading progress on the ground, advancing innovations, and enacting the solutions needed to safeguard humanity and the planet. The Redford Center is committed to using the power of story and hopes to accelerate a just transition to a healthier, more regenerative future.
www.redfordcenter.org

SALESFORCE and THE BENIOF OCEAN INITIATIVE

Salesforce considers environmental protection a priority, and it is committed to connecting its culture to innovation to improve the state of the world. It leverages the power of its people and products to reduce the impact on the planet. Salesforce has net-zero emissions for its operations globally and delivers customers a carbon-neutral cloud. It is increasingly committed to solving environmental problems for a better planet and a better future. The Benioff Ocean Initiative started in 2016 when Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce and ocean advocate, and his wife, Lynne Benioff, gifted $10 million to promote science-based, ocean problem-solving at UCSB (UC Santa Barbara). It merges science and technology to improve ocean health.
www.salesforce.com 

SAVE THE ELEPHANTS (STE)

Save the Elephants was founded in 1993 by Iain Douglas-Hamilton. A research and conservation organization, STE is a UK-registered charity, headquartered in Nairobi, with its principal research station in Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya. Save the Elephants (STE) works to secure a future for elephants in a rapidly changing world. To battle the current surge in ivory poaching, the STE/WCN Elephant Crisis Fund is identifying and supporting the most effective global partners to stop poaching, thwart traffickers, and end demand for ivory. Leaders in elephant science, STE also provides cutting-edge scientific insights into elephant behavior, intelligence, and long-distance movement and applies them to the long-term challenges of elephant conservation.
www.safetheelephants.org

TETIAROA SOCIETY

“It is my hope that the island will serve as an ecological model… not only a tourist preserve but a marine preserve, as well a place for all manner of scientific research and investigation…” believed Marlon Brando. Tetiaroa Society (TS) is a US-based, non-profit organization. Its mission is to ensure island and coastal communities have a future as rich as their past, strengthening their resilience to global change, enhancing their ecosystem services, and preserving their culture. Grounded in their experience and actions on Tetiaroa, its vision is an Island Earth Initiative that weaves enlightened values, traditional wisdom, and scientific understanding into a new fabric for their common island home.  They have a Conservation and Sustainable Use Plan, which develops and carries out conservation and education, hosts scientific research, and curates the island’s knowledge base. It partners with The Brando Resort to introduce resort guests to the nature and culture of the island and to establish Tetiaroa as a model for island/earth sustainability, where businesses and charities work together for the benefit of communities and nature.
www.tetiaroasociety.org

THE CLIMATE COALITION

The Climate Coalition is the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action against climate change. Along with their sister organizations, Stop Climate Chaos Cymru and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, it is a group of over 140 organizations — including the National Trust, Women’s Institute, Oxfam, and RSPB — and twenty-two million voices strong. It is reaching across the UK to show its love for all the things that it wants to protect from climate change; it strives to convince politicians to put aside their differences and commit to doing whatever is necessary to protect the planet. The coalition has already achieved so much, from reaching millions with its annual Show the Love campaign, to the campaign that led to the UK becoming the first major economy to set a legally binding net-zero target, to making history as the largest lobby for climate, nature, and people.
www.theclimatecoalition.org

THE JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE

The Jane Goodall Institute wants to bring Jane Goodall’s vision to life, around the world, for generations to come. It promotes understanding and protection of great apes and their habitat and wants to inspire young people to help animals, other people, and to protect the world. Whether it is restoring chimpanzee habitats, improving women’s health in a nearby village, or working with Roots & Shoots youth groups in nearly 100 countries, it finds practical ways to make the greatest, lasting impact on people, animals, and the environment.
www.janegoodall.org

THE OCEAN CLEANUP

Dutch inventor Boyan Slat founded the non-profit foundation The Ocean Cleanup, in 2013, at the age of eighteen in his hometown of Delft, in the Netherlands. The team consists of more than ninety engineers, researchers, scientists, and computational modelers who work daily to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. The Ocean Cleanup is developing advanced technologies to reach its goals. It is designing and developing systems to clean up what is already polluting the oceans and to intercept plastic on its way to the ocean via rivers.
www.theoceancleanup.com

UNITED NATIONS (UN) and UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP)

The United Nations was established in 1945 following the devastation of the Second World War with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security.  The UN does this by working to prevent conflict by helping parties in conflict make peace through peacekeeping, and by creating the conditions to allow peace to take hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another to be effective. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices and bodies. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
www.un.org
www.unep.org

VIRGIN UNITE

In 2004, the non-profit foundation Virgin Unite was founded to unite people and entrepreneurial ideas to create opportunities for a better world. Since then, together with some great partners, it has inspired and created many wonderful collaborations, like The Elders, Ocean Unite, Carbon War Room (now merged with RMI), The B Team, Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator, Unite BVI, 100% Human at Work, and The Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship. These endeavors have sparked much of the needed change in the world.
unite.virgin.com

WATER.ORG

Water.org was founded by Gary White and Matt Damon in 2009. It is a global nonprofit organization working to bring water and sanitation to the world. It strives to make water safe, accessible, and cost-effective. It helps people get access to safe water and sanitation through affordable financing, such as small loans. It works to empower those in need by helping them obtain these life-changing resources, giving women hope, children’s health, and families a bright future.
water.org

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF)

The World Economic Forum was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial, and not tied to any special interests. The Forum strives, in all of its efforts, to demonstrate entrepreneurship in the global public interest, while following the highest standards of governance. Moral and intellectual integrity is at the heart of everything it does. Its activities are shaped by a unique institutional culture, founded on the stakeholder theory, which asserts that an organization is accountable to all parts of society. The institution carefully blends and balances the best of many kinds of organizations, from the public and private sectors, international organizations, and academic institutions. It maintains that progress happens by bringing together people, from all walks of life, who have the drive and the influence to make positive changes.
www.weforum.org